Ever own, or drive one?
I drove an Army truck made by Studebaker.

My grandparents had at least one sedan.

We had them at Johns Manville

I remember my Aunt had a really nice late 50's titty pink one.My Grandfather bought a used pickup and it was a piece of crap.

Charles Goodnight converted a Studebaker surplus army wagon into the first chuckwagon.

I currently own a '63 R/2 Super Hawk (factory Paxton supercharger). I also owned a '60 Lark VIII Regal Hardtop that I converted to R/1 spec. - talk about a sleeper.

I've been looking for a '58 Transtar 4x4 (NAPCO) for years. I found a completely restored one once years ago, but I didn't buy it - big mistake.



My R/2 Super Hawk:

1953 Studebaker commander is one of the best looking cars ever built.

My dad bought a brand new 56 sudebaker. My brother a a 1952 Comander, he was going to but a 409 with duel quads for a drag car.

Made sharp-looking street rods, a lot got the mopar engine conversion.

Automobile or wagon?

Our first chest freezer was made by Studebaker.

Either Bob.

Studebaker Wagon:

Cool!

A buddy of mine has a Studebaker deuce and a half.

They also built aircraft engines in WWII.

Had a 1940 studebaker, oh ya stuffed a 350 chevy in it. Street rod

Mom liked Studebaker cars for quite a while. A commander and two Larks. I drove the Larks in HS-rarely. She wouldn't let me use them much as I disobeyed her and bought a motorcycle when I was 15.
As she said when we were backing it out of dads pickup "I hope you like riding it". I discovered it rains a lot in Oregon....

Nope just an old Plymouth and a Desoto

Wabi: I have an 11 page article on the Studebaker US6 Military trucks. If you would like a copy, PM me your e-mail address and I will send it along - it's too lengthy to post here in the open forum.

Dad had a Lark.
Down to the street theres a clean Super Hawk.
Being Indiana, they were common and not too expensive.

Now theyre too much money.
Still cool though.

Got a couple Avantis around town.

Hell a couple yrs ago I saw an Amphicar drive down the main drag.

Sweet resto High Noon

We had a Studebaker Lark wagon with a sliding roof in the early 1960's. My Father traded a 1959 Impala coupe toward the Lark. The Lark wasn't a good car. I don't remember what the problems were, but my Father traded it toward 1965 Chevelle wagon that had had the front end cut off and replaced in a short time. Whoever did the rebuild work on the Chevelle welded the frame a RCH out of alignment so it drove "funny". It got traded off for a new 1968 Olds Belmont 88 for my Mother to drive.

Which model looked the same, front, and rear?

I'm working on restoring the Super Hawk. The mechanical part is done, but the interior and paint needs work. I did not restore the Transtar in the above photo.

My first vehicle was a ‘49 Studebaker pickup. My artistic brother stenciled on each door Rommel’s ‘Afrika Corps’ logo, a swastika superimposed on a palm tree. It was badass.

My father had a small peach orchard. In 1958 we were taking a load of peaches to Suisun Valley Fruit Growers in his old IH flatbed truck when a wheel fell off the truck. My dad bought the only truck available in the area at that time to replace it as it was not worth repairing. It was a 1958 Transtar Delux 3E7 1/2 ton Studebaker pickup. It did not have a heater or radio but it did have a 2 tone paint job. Power steering was by armstrong and air conditioning was 2-60. It had twin traction and a 3 speed overdrive transmission. The engine was a 259 V-8. It would cruiz on the freeway doing 70mph all day. One time I got it up to 100 mph in my foolish youth. I put a lot of miles on that truck and dad gave it to me 40 years ago. I was working on restoring it when I bought a house and all of my "spare" cash went into fixing up the house. I finally sold it to a friend who moved to Montana.

Bad-Arsed Avanti:

This Studebaker Avanti eats Hellcats

Growing up my dad was a mechanic with a junk yard. He got in a 55 speedster. I about had him thinking I needed it when he sold a bunch of its parts. I wound up with a 53 ford. Hasbeen

Older brother had a salvage yard in milwaukee back in 69/70... he took a a clean studebaker station wagon and made it into a "torch car"... cut round holes in the roof and dropped the oxy/acetylene tanks right in... -20 F and the only thing that would start was that Rutabaga!...

A company called Wasatch Customs here has a restored '51 on its lot just waiting for an owner. I glance over at it every time I drive by. I'm not into cars, but that one is intriguing. Gallery of photos HERE

My dad had an old, blue Studebaker station wagon that he bought used for a "fishing/hunting" car. I have two memories related to that car. One was that you could see the road through the hole in the passenger side floor. The second was running into the back of it while racing a friend on my bicycle. I turned around to see if he was gaining on me, and when I turned back around all I could see was the back window of that old station wagon. I got a bloody nose out of that one.

We had one when I was a little boy.

Wife had a Hawk in High School. Parents had a sedan. Best memory is of my grandfathers old Studebaker truck. Called it Old Satan!

My grandfather was a huge fan of them. He owned 16 of them. I drove his 1/2 ton pickup to hunting in 1960. And, one day, came home with a nice Blacktail in it's bed. That was my first buck.
He later traded in his 1/2 ton with a 6 ft. bed for one with an 8 ft. bed. Then he bought one of the first ruck campers.
I wish he were still with us so he could see the 10 ft. Lance Camper I have today.
He and Grandma were some of the first who were modern campers. They made there own sleeping bags, etc. I have on the wall in front of me a picture of my brother, and Gramps on a hunting trip in 1959. We were using that old red, 6 ft. bed 1/2 ton. The thing had a flat head engine ! E

53 was the poor mans streamliner. One of the prettiest cars ever made

Im high school I got a 1962 Lark "Cruiser" from am Uncle. Had a 289 - I think - V-8 & overdrive tramsmissiom. Darn thing was pretty quick, & got aroumd 24 MPG. Four door, with reclining fromt seats & plush interior. ice little car!

Mike Holmes

Nice pickup, High Noon. That is all kinds of badass right there.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my Old Man started his auto salvage as a side job while working as a crane man in a Johnstown steel mill.
He would buy old cars and parts them out, eventually tearing them apart to load in a pickup to be hauled to the crusher in Johnstown.
His first wrecker (tow truck to everybody else) was a ‘64 Studebaker pickup with a homemade boom. I don’t remember a whole lot about it other than falling out the door as we pulled out of the driveway once! ( he made me swear never to tell Mom!)
I ain’t certain how long he had that. I remember he bought an old Dodge and we switched the boom over to that and retired the Studebaker to the junkyard.
In the late ‘70s he finally bought a Ford F-350 with a Holmes boom, and a few years later we got an F-600 and had a rollback bed put on in Greencastle. (Jerr Dan)
We had around 350 cars or so when I was in high school, but I still remember falling out of that damn Studebaker!
7mm

The 56 Studebaker Golden Hawk shared its engine with Packard and Nash- - - -a 352 cubic inch V8 designed by Packard in 1955. Our 56 Nash Ambassador Super had the same engine, but slightly detuned from the one in the Hawk. It would do 100+ MPH far too easily for a 16 year old kid to drive! Those engines could be bored and stroked to over 500 cubic inches!

Got an old Lark (60 model, I think) and around the same vintage pickup out at the ranch.
The car is mostly intact, the pickup, not so much, but mostly there.
The truck was defunct before my time, my father-in-law and I got the Lark going once - that thing would RUN!!!
Good thing it was in the country - the brakes weren't in too good of shape. We went 4 wheeling across the pasture when we tried to stop.

+1

I always wanted a Golden Hawk


Or an Avanti

My uncle’s dad and uncle bought a new pair of Studebaker 2ton grain trucks and a pair of new Gleaner Cs. They built ramps to back the Cs into the trucks and were in the custom cutting business headed to TX to work their way up to Nebraska before they’d head back home.

As a kid, maybe 1967 (born in '61) or so, my Father did a kitchen cabinet remodel and received a '49 pickup in return. He drove it for a number of years. Yellow...

In the day, they were the cat's meow.

Thanks, but that's not my Transtar. I only have the Super Hawk, but I'm looking for a '58 Transtar.

My dad had a Golden Hawk stock car that he used to race at Freeport and Islip on Long Island in the '50s.

Worked at a dairy farm and the fleet was studebaker trucks they were all painted blue and had a aluminum box on the beds to hold the ice for home delivery. The dairy was one of the last ones i know of that delivered milk to the door had a full time mechanic at the dairy to keep the old flatheads going along with the old ferggy tractors going.

Dairy closed around 1988 to 89 do not remember.
The fleet was sold at action so sad.

Never owned one, but my great uncle had one I got to drive once in a while when I was at an age where it was great to drive anything. I remember it would get up and go a lot better than I expected.

A kid in our town, 6 or 7 years older than I, built a hotrod on one…283 with two four-barrels, Isky cam…the works.

Another guy, in our town up north, collects Avatis. He ran the area’s premier body shop for years, From what I’ve seen of his Avantis, they are gorgeous.

Although not an "automobile," Studebaker Company originally made wagons and in the great push across the plains and mountains to the western United States, Studebaker wagons were far more popular than the very heavy, awkward, more expensive Conestoga wagons first used.

The Studebaker wagon was much lighter, more maneuverable, didn't take so much "horse power" (or "ox power") to pull, and carried about the same amount of freight and goods. They became the desirable transportation of the western migrants.

When the "horseless carriage" became a more modern means of transportation, Studebaker got out of the wagon business and into building automobiles.

FWIW.

L.W.

My neighbor has a Studebaker pu 4wd like high noon complete restored , painted it turquoise and cream colored. He collects Studebaker also has one of those Avanti's.

I never knew that.
Pretty good story, thanks for enlightening us.
7mm

A friend I hung around with for several years had a Studebaker that looked like the 1951 shown in the attachment to Rocky Raabs post. The owner was not a skillfull driver and it was unbelievable the abuse he heaped on that car. In spite of this it was just like the Energizer Bunny in the way it took abuse and just kept on running. Don't know what engine it had but am sure it wasn't a V-8. The only accessories it had as I recall it were a radio and overdrive. It sure was the source of my respect for these cars.

This discussion brings to mind a new Hudson automobile I got to ride in at the cottage when I was somewhere between 12 and 15. At the time I thought that was the height of pure luxury. A rich(?) guy from Ohio was the owner.

Jim

Until near the end, most Studebaker models were very good equipment, and the company took the lead with some styling features and operating components.

I had and loved a 1948 Commander Starlite Coupe - best car for the dollar car I ever owned. Flathead 6, very dependable and stylish, economical for its day, overdrive in three gears and a hill holder feature, not to mention other little niceties. I would like to find one like it today at some decent price - mainly for sentimental reasons.

Had an early 60s 3/4 ton truck with the V8 - a workhorse. Then, an Avanti - '64 I think - that was fun and unique.

Only two stories I can tell about Studebakers.

First, my BFF at the time, still is if he's still alive had a 49 Study two door. One evening we scored a pint of who hit John and when he got into the car he passed the 6 pack of coke to is date and the bottle back to me. Seems that little old car had storage space in the back seat armrests. Sure as God made little green apples, the cops had been watching that liquor store and pulled us over. They never found the booze.

The second story is I was leaving my girl friends house i Las Vegas and headed back to Indian Springs AFB. About half way there I'm doing about 90 or so in a 55 Oldsmobile that wasn't quite stock when I see lights in the distance behind my. Now I'm hauling whoever it was is catching up tp to me quite fast. i dropped back in speed and this Studebaker Avanti went past me going I don't know how fast. I tried to catch up but all I ever saw was his tail lights getting smaller and smaller. I always thought they were some kind of cool.
Paul B.

Yes, my 48 Starlite Coupe had those unique storage armrests (one of the features noted in previous post) and the later Avanti was equipped to run that fast - another out in front design by Stude.

I had a .62 Lark that I inherited from my great aunt. It was in 1978, and the car had been sitting for years and had hardly any oil showing on the dipstick. I topped off the oil, filled up the nearly empty radiator, and put new tires on it. Luckily the gas tank was in good condition and nearly empty, so the new gas diluted the old. This was in Birmingham, AL, and I drove it all the way back to Eastern Kentucky, 500 miles. It ran better than our 1978 Chevy with the little in-line 6 with about 70 HP. It ran so smooth I was impressed.. They were very underrated cars, and they had some fine motors.

There is a prestine Avanti ragtop that lives near me, I see it on the road on weekends occasionally.

Good auction car to watch for, if there isn't a Avanti buyer in the mix ya just might get a hell'ov a deal.

(Sold,$12,000.00)
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-avanti-avanti/

My long-time hunting pard was in the middle of a complete rebuild of an Avanti, complete from engine/trans to brakes/wheels to body to interior.

Sadly, cancer took him before he could finish and drive it.

Original supercharged Avanti seemed very special - the Avanti II, not so much.

^^ This ^^

My '63 R/2 Super Hawk has the original supercharger, but I rebuilt it with 12 lbs. of boost instead of the original 5 lbs of boost.

Wabigoon: When I was in high school one of my classmates "borrowed" his Uncles 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk and we got it up to 120 M.P.H. on I-90.
Never owned one - thought they looked fugly.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Evnin, I had a real red faded, think allis chalmer in a field for 20yrs. Drove it in the winter to save my 1967 big block camaro. It had a Chevrolet 6cyl. a ford 3speed automatic, but only showed 2 speeds on the dash. You put it in low, then to get the second speed you shifted into hi for a second and then back down to second and up to 3rd for drive. Some of us that hung around the general store sitting on the porch drinking pop etc. my buddy shows up in his 68 charger 383. I ask him to race the studebaker, we joked & ribbed him till he agreed. I go get the pink stud & motioned to my cousin to get a quart of oil out of the back & told him to go explain to Fred how we were to start and as he's telling him to pour the oil under his tire (no posi) . We were racing to the Rialway track looser to buy the pop. Well we start & of course I leave & head to crossing, behind me was nothing but smoke. I was half way there when he finally got moving, dang he beat me & I had to buy the pop but it was so worth it we laughed our asses of. Ya, no video games for us!!!! Some time I'll tell yas about our steer & pig riding. Bill. 👣🐾👣🐾🇨🇦

Studebaker Wig Wag tail lights are kool......

And the Flyin Tomato at the Salt Flats

Dad bought a used Lark VI around 1969 for a work car. He only paid a few hundred bucks for it. We got backed into by a car salesman at the local Ford dealership and cratered the drivers door. Dad found a door from the junkyard and changed it out. He probably made 150 bucks on the deal and he didn’t care about the paint not matching. A few months later a guy driving a pickup without a bed lost control and hit it head on parked in front of the house and the insurance totaled it out. He got twice what he paid for it. Took that plus some and bought a new 70 Chevy pickup.

Step brother had a 57 two door president that I drooled over but he didn’t keep it long.

My hunting buddy is a Studebaker fanatic, has a barn full of them. A couple of pickups, a '34 sedan, an Avanti and a '51 bullet nose Champion. There are others I don't recall. Last time I was out there he showed me his latest prize - a high performance aluminum head for a flathead 6.